3ala2masri

34 minutes ago, arken said:

Your sister's immigration timeline per current visa bulletin (subject to change):
You petition her: 15-16 years from today.

Your mom petitions her after being eligible : 20-21 years from today if everything goes perfectly

 

No point in waiting, just file it. When your mom becomes the USC, depending on time frame, she can decide whether to petition or not at the time.

Thank you for the information, that was really useful. I have another question, my sister has a B2 visa and it will expire this year but she came to the US twice before. Do you think filing I-130 will hurt her chances of getting the visitor visa again?

1 minute ago, milimelo said:

Is the sister married so you’re waiting for mother to naturalize? 
 

Your petition would take around 14-16 years until visa in hand. 
 

if sister over 21 and unmarried her mother could’ve petitioned when she got her GC - around 7 years until visa in hand. 

Sorry forgot to mention that she is married and over 21. That's why I only put the option of my mom petitioning for her when she becomes a citizen.

Just now, Boiler said:

Do both, you never know.

How does that work? I didn't know that you can apply twice for the same beneficiary (even with different petitioners).

Hello VJ members,

I was wondering which route is fastest for bringing my married sister to the US:

1- Me being the petitioner and apply now

OR

2- Wait for my mother to become a citizen (We have an approved I-130 and we're waiting for an interview date) and then she applying for her daughter

Thank you!

Please just answer my questions precisely and justify any opinion you give. If I could have the wedding in my home country I wouldn't be posting this to begin with.

Hello VJ !

So I came to USA on K1 fiance visa and got married and now I'm waiting a mail from USCIS to attend the AOS interview. My wedding is gonna be in November and I want my family to come and attend.

so I applied for my family: Mother (divorced), two sisters and their husbands and their kids (all kids are under 14 years old so no need to attend interview). I have my older brother but I didn't apply for him because he cant travel due to his new job.

I listed all their names in each DS-160 application in the "Persons Traveling with you". for example in my mom's application I put everyone else "2 daughters and their husbands and their kids" and same for each application.

In the "US contact Information" I put my name and the address of my wife's family where I'm also living in until we move to our house after wedding.

When scheduling an appointment for the interview, I used my sister's email to sign in the https://cgifederal.secure.force.com/ website. 

I added everyone else as dependents so all of them will be considered as a group and because that's the reality. They are all traveling together so I made sure to be honest and just put everything as is because I know lying can cause denial.

They went to the interview and they asked them mostly about me and my status here and if I have a job. I emailed them my marriage certificate and my EAD card as proof of status. Also they asked them about their jobs. They didn't ask for any economical ties (houses,cars,schools,bank statements....).

In the end they told them that they cant issue a visa for them because:

1- I am not well established here in USA (that's so weird because I just got my EAD and I'm searching for a job so how I'm gonna be established and since when this was a requirement for any family to come attend their relative wedding ??)

2- Not enough ties to home country.

My first question:

I will say my analysis and please comment: I believe the mistake I did is applying for EVERYONE and this way I left no FAMILY TIES. I just considered economical ties because my sisters and their husbands are paying house mortgages and they have jobs and their kids go to school and also one husband has good travel history (work purpose) to 5 countries in Europe and the other one has the Canadian citizenship (I know he could travel to US using his passport but he doesn't have a valid one and it takes time so we decided to just apply for a visa for him). 

So I totally forgot that they have no more family ties and this is the most important thing when applying for a tourism visa.

Do you believe this is why they got denied ? 

My second question:

I want to reapply but this time I will just apply for my: Mother, sister and her one kid and my other sister alone. so This way my first sister has her husband and her other kid there and my second sister has her husband and her 2 kids left in the home country. My mom lives with her mom because her husband (my grandpa) is dead and my mother is the only single daughter so she can stay and take care of her especially my grandma is old and sick. My older brother is also single and he lives so close to my grandma's house so he also needs my mom to take care of him (cook, clean, wash clothes....).

Do you think this way they will get approved and do u recommend that I schedule an interview for them as a group ? 

Also do you think I should put my father-in-law as the US contact in the DS-160 since I live in his house and this way they shouldn't care if I'm well established or not since my family will come live at his house. He will write an invitation letter and send it to the embassy by EMAIL and also will print and sign it and then scan it and Email it to my sister so she can print it out and take it with her to the interview.

Sorry for the long paragraphs and Thank you so much for helping.

She makes more than 125% but for the I-134 only above 100% is required. I meant is it better for the approval to have a co-sponsor ? I want to do what makes THEM feel better so they approve me

Hello,

I want to know if its better to have co-sponsor (my fiancée's mother or father) knowing that she can sponsor me (her income is above the 100% of poverty guildeline).

Thanks

We got the RFE mail and it turned out to be a question in the i-129f my fiancée forgot to answer :/ its about criminal records. We will send it back on Monday but I wonder how long we need to wait for approval ?

I think we got lucky our file got opened after only one month from submission

Hello !

So we got an RFE and we are trying to guess the reason.

My fiancée (the petitioner) sent copies of passport stamps without the bio page.

Is that a reason to get a RFE ? Boarding passes are not enough to prove that she traveled and met me in my country ? Is passport bio page needed ?

Thanks

You are asking a question we cannot answer for sure, because we are not the CO, and we do not know how much proof of relationship you will have by interview time. But no, I do not think your chances of denial are low; filing after only one meeting, and with a short court ship before that on top, always carries a reasonably high chance of denial.

I understand you can't give a final answer but based on your knowledge and experience I thought you would have an opinion, but its weird that chances of denial are not low. It's only an engagement and we have a lot of chat history, pictures, engagement rings and both families are officially involved. It's not weird if a couple decided to get engaged after 3 months of communication. With all the technology nowadays meeting is no longer a requirement for engagement and I think the embassy is familiar with this fact. We just have to try out luck with the K1 then we see what happens and we decide accordingly .

Opinions from other viewers are so welcomed

You asked me what I would do- I gave you my answer, which is designed to maximise the chances of getting the visa approved.

If you must file now, I would go for the K1, as it gives you a second chance with the CR-1 if not approved. I would NOT hold any type of wedding, or an engagement party that may be construed as a wedding (if it is very clear from the way you are dressed and the type of party that it is an engagement party that is fine, but we had cases here where the embassy interviewed friends and family who said the couple were married due to an elaborate engagement party).

I said "right now I need to decide what to do since we just have one week before she leaves." before asking you what you would do. I thought it was clear enough that I want to file now, but never mind now you got my point.

Yes we just did a small gathering at her grandparent's house and we put engagement rings and then we went to a restaurant and had dinner then we cut a small cake. She was wearing a regular dress "not wedding dress" and I was wearing a suite.

So you think chances of getting denied is low if I apply for K1 ?

This must be my final question I thank you so much for your assist and patience and I wish you the best.

If it was me, I would plan a wedding for during the second visit in a few weeks/ months. Make it an official/ legal wedding, and celebrate it however that is traditionally done in your culture, and have photos to submit during the visa process. Have family there from both sides if possible. Then visit a third time for the interview.

Please understand me, I said I need to choose NOW one visa type, she can't visit anytime she wants since she has a job.

You mean we file for CR1 after the second visit when we have our wedding ? that's after at least a year from now and we can't make it that long.

So now I hope its clear to you that I just need to apply as soon as she arrives to USA, so I need to decide whether we should get married now "just legal marriage, no wedding" for the CR1 or apply for K1.

I appreciate your patience

No, I did not say it would cause a denial, but it is a big red flag. That she stayed with you a month does help, at least your first visit wasn't a short one. But yes, a second visit would increase your chances, with ideally a third visit during the petition and a fourth for the interview. It helps that you seem to be of the same culture and religion, that is a positive.

Ok so please just recommend what you think is better right now I need to decide what to do since we just have one week before she leaves.

You have all the facts and consider this is your case, you go with K1 or marriage then CR1 ? just pick one please

wow...so you think the short period of time prior engagement /marriage will cause denial ? some people told me it shouldn't be a reason if I have genuine evidences and everything went well in the interview.

It doesn't have to be fast but it doesn't mean I want to wait much longer. If she went home then came to visit again then we file the application that's at least 2 years waiting till I get a visa.

On average, if K1 visa takes 6 to 8 months and CR1 visa takes 10 to 12 months then time is not an issue BETWEEN THE TWO, so if I have to choose now what would be the better choice ? Fiance visa or get married now and CR1 ?

Thank you for your time

We weren't planning to get married now but we decided to get legally married just for the visa so is it better to just stay engaged and go for the K1 or to get married legally but without a wedding and go for the CR1 ?

We just want the safest choice, not fastest nor cheapest. Don't forget the very short (2 months long-distance and one month in person) relationship before engagement/marriage since this what's worrying me in case we want to do the CR1.

Okay it seems I said it in a wrong way...we will get married legally also and we will get the official marriage certificate but we will not do a wedding party....but we will do engagement ceremony and take pictures.Then we do the religious and legal marriage. The only thing I'm concerned from is the very fast marriage. CR-1 visa is most probably the one I will go with and hopefully the fast marriage doesn't result in denial.

Hello VJ !

Here is my story:

I'm from Lebanon (Middle east) and I met that american girl on Facebook in May and we liked each other and decided to get engaged.

She came to Lebanon on the 3rd of July and today we will get engaged "only 2 months long-distance relationship and 17 days of meeting in Lebanon". So we are trying to decide which Visa to choose and we are so confused.

Her parents said we can get married "religious marriage" it means just getting married according to my religion's terms but no wedding, then apply to K3 visa but I'm afraid that this very short period of time things happened will increase the chance of getting denied especially I'm from a MENA country (high fraud) "Same concern with the CR-1 Visa".

So after reading a lot I think K1 visa is the safest choice knowing that waiting time is not an issue and also money is not an issue since I know K1 will cost the most in total.

PLEASE HELP !

Thanks